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BY KEVIN McCANEY
Army researchers are work-
ing to bring chemical and
biological detection down to
size, with small, 3D-printed devices
that can quickly detect the presence
of harmful agents and report those
results up the chain of
command.
One such device being
developed by the Army’s
Edgewood Chemical Bio-
logical Center (ECBC)
at Aberdeen Proving
Grounds, Md., is called
the VOCkit system.
Adapted from commer-
cial technology, it uses
a postage stamp-sized
colorimetric detection
assay printed with a grid
of several dozen indicator
chemicals with the ability
to identify threats such as
anthrax, sarin or mustard
gas. The system can then
transmit the results via
soldiers’ Nett Warrior smartphones.
The detection assay, made with
ECBC’s 3D printers, is placed in in-
side a disk-like cartridge. A plug on
the cartridge can be removed to add a
sample for testing, after which the as-
say’s grid of colored indicator chemi-
cals react to reveal the sample’s com-
position, according the Army.
“You have almost one hundred re-
actions going on and the combination
of those reactions gives you a unique
signature,” Peter Emanuel, ECBC’s
BioScience division chief, said. “Some
react, some don’t ... some intensely.
The signature, the collection of those
dots, gives us a unique fingerprint for
what that agent is.”
Part of the trick is in developing a
small system that can differentiate
between harmful agents and everyday
odors—such as those from cleaning
fluids or bug spray—that might regis-
ter similar reactions, researchers said.
Testing has involved not only finding
the signatures of harmful chemical
and biological agents, but also the sig-
natures of products soldiers regularly
use—such as lotions, baby wipes, fu-
els, rifle cleaners and so on—in order
to preemptively eliminate false posi-
tives.
“ The problem is that common stuff
confuses the strips,” Aleksandr Mik-
los, a senior scientist at ECBC, said
colormetric strips currently in use.
“We know certain solvents will look
a lot like [the nerve agent] VX. That’s
not particularly helpful.”
While the VOCkit is being refined,
ECBC also has tested a device called
the SmartCAR, for “smart color-
metric assay reader,” a
handheld device that uses
electronics and a camera
to read test strips. Un-
like VOCkit, the Smart-
CAR can only test for
one biological agent at a
time, the Army said, but
it works with strips that
are already in wide use in
the Army and was field-
tested recently in South
Korea during a biosur-
veillance demonstration
that including scenarios
involving anthrax and the
plague.
The SmartCAR is an
indication of how quickly
handheld biological and
chemical detection is advancing.
ECBC engineer Colin Graham devel-
oped the device in six months, design-
ing the circuit board and software and
3D printing the shell, the Army said.
And although it only tests for one
agent at a time, the Army said soldiers
in the field could each test for differ-
ent agents simultaneously to present a
complete picture.
Like VOCkit, the SmartCAR con-
nects with Nett Warrior phones so
results can be shared. n
Handheld devices improve biological
and chemical detection
MOBILE
The colorimetric detection assay is printed with a grid
of several dozen indicator chemicals.
DefenseSystems.com | MARCH/APRIL 2015 31
Army system could quickly detect, share info on harmful agents
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